Advertise on podcast: Unbox Yourself: Sexual Identity and Coming Out Later in Life with Samantha Fox®

If you've ever looked at someone who's openly, proudly gay and felt uncomfortable, this episode is for you. Samantha doesn't judge that discomfort. She names it, normalizes it, and then tells you exactly what it's pointing to...internalized homophobia. Not as a shameful verdict, but as an understandable product of a system that handed you a script from day one and told you everything outside of it was wrong, dangerous, or simply not for you. In this episode, Samantha explores: Why pride isn't about performance or politics, it's the sign that you've done the work to unbox yourself from systems that were never built with you in mindHow compulsory heterosexuality and the heteropatriarchal script have embedded themselves so deeply that they don't feel like conditioning, they just feel like normalWhy other people's pride can feel threatening when you're still in the questioning stage, and what that discomfort is actually telling you about where you are in your own journeyThe false certainty of the heteronormative path, and why stepping outside of it feels so disorienting even when you know it's rightAn expanded vision of pride not just as a gay woman, but as a woman moving into her wisdom years, her power, free at last from a gaze that was never meant to see her clearlyThis episode closes with one question for you to sit with: Where is your pride? Not in a partner. Not in following the rules. Just in you.

"How did you tell him?" It's the question Sam gets asked more than almost any other. In this solo episode, she answers it — starting with her own story of 26 missed calls, a yoga teacher, and a husband who figured it out before she did. But the real question she wants you to sit with isn't how to tell him. It's why telling him feels so impossible. And what that might be telling you about yourself. Sam takes you back to 2002...three kids under five, a yoga teacher who became a catalyst, 26 missed calls, and a husband who asked the question before she could. She shares exactly how her own coming out unfolded and why it looked nothing like what she'd recommend today. But the deeper question she's asking you is this... when you say "I don't know how to tell him," is it really that you don't know how to tell yourself? In this episode: Why the fear of telling him is often the fear of making it realWhat internalized homophobia looks like when it's steering the shipThe actual words you can use whether you've always been open about your attraction to women, or this is coming completely out of nowhere for both of youWhy you don't have to blow your life up overnight and the many iterations of how this can actually unfoldThe grief that comes alongside the freedom, and why both deserve spaceThere's no one right way to have this conversation. But there is a way through and it starts with getting honest with yourself first.

What happens when you finally find love that feels like coming home and still manage to lose yourself in it? Samantha Fox welcomes back friend and colleague Christine Vargo, therapist and creator of The Art of Staying, for a conversation sparked by Christine's viral Instagram post about a pattern that runs deep in women-loving-women relationships, the tendency to bypass anger toward female partners. When a man treats you badly, the anger is easy to access. When a woman does? We're conditioned to soften it, explain it away, and take care of her feelings before our own. Sam and Christine go beyond the post to explore why self-abandonment doesn't end when you come out. For many women coming into their queer identity later in life, the first relationship with a woman feels like the opposite of self-abandonment ...electric, seen, finally real. And yet the old patterns are still running underneath, often invisible until the resentment builds. Together they unpack: The conditioning that makes women more empathic toward female partners even when that empathy becomes self-erasureWhy anger is not rage, and why feeling it is essential to healing and not repeating old patternsHow "sparkly codependence" and limerence work in the nervous system and why it feels so much like loveThe specific challenge of going from a long heterosexual marriage straight into a WLW relationship with no grounding period in betweenThe U-Haul trope, what's really behind it, and what's possible insteadChristine's six-week course, The Art of Staying, and the framework she built from her own lived experienceIf you're somewhere in the messy middle of coming out, newly in your first relationship with a woman, or just starting to ask why your needs keep disappearing, this one is going to land. Learn more about Christines Course The Art of Staying HERE Gain Access to the FREE Nervous System Reset HERE To learn more about working with Samantha, set up a free 20 minute Clarity Call HERE

Morgan was raised to believe that trusting herself was a sin. So when she started having feelings about women, she had no idea they were real. This is what happened when she finally stopped running from the question. Morgan was 16 when she started dating the man she would marry at 18. By 28, she was a stay-at-home mom with three kids, a loving husband who was her best friend, and a quiet knowing she had been pushing down for years. Growing up in a conservative Christian household, Morgan was taught that trusting yourself over God was a sin. So when feelings about women started surfacing, she had no framework to even recognize them as real, let alone trust them. In this one-year anniversary conversation, Morgan shares the journey that unfolded after she found Unbox Your Sexuality: coming out to her husband, opening her marriage, building a queer community from scratch, and finally coming out to her deeply religious parents all in twelve months. This episode is for the woman who has been circling the question for years. The one who keeps stepping toward the door and then stepping back. The one who wonders if what she feels is even real. It is real. And Morgan's story is proof that when your system is ready, everything can change. In this episode: How purity culture didn't just suppress Morgan's sexuality, it dismantled her ability to trust herself at allThe cycle of surfacing and suppressing that went on for years before she sought helpWhat finally broke the cycle and what made this year differentNavigating an open relationship, queer community, and coming out to religious parents all at onceWhat she would say to the woman who is exactly where she was a year agoIf you are ready to take a step but don't know what that step is, join me for a CLARTY CALL (20 min Free Zoom Call) Beyond Straight is a safe and accepting community for women who are in all stages of questioning, coming out or already out after living in heteronormativity.

In this episode, Sam is joined by astrologer and Stellarmuse founder Renee Rotkopf for a conversation about the cosmic forces at play when women come out later in life. If you've been asking yourself what is happening to me right now, this episode is for you. Sam and Renee explore why so many women try to explain away their same-sex awakening with logical reasons like hormones, boredom, or relationship problems, and what's actually happening beneath the surface. Spoiler: your soul may have been moving you toward this long before you had words for it. In this episode you'll hear about: The major astrological turning points that often coincide with late-in-life awakenings (Saturn return, Chiron return, Pluto transits and more)Why the feelings of change don't go away, no matter how long you waitHow understanding your birth chart can help you stop blaming yourself and start understanding yourselfThe guilt, regret, and grief that come with leaving, and why doing your own inner work is the only way throughRenee's personal story of coming out in her late twenties and what she's learned looking back through the lens of her chartRenee Rotkopf is an astrologer, coach, and the founder of Stellarmuse, an innovative approach to astrology that moves beyond personality labels to genuine self-discovery. Her own journey began at her first Saturn Return, around 28, when the life she had built started asking hard questions she could no longer ignore. That turning point became the foundation of everything she teaches, including the importance of self awareness and self-love. With over 15 years of experience, Renee brings a somatic and parts-informed coaching method to her astrological work, helping people not just understand their chart, but feel into it, meet their inner parts, and integrate to feel more whole. She created Stellarmuse to make transformative astrology accessible to anyone navigating challenging times. Renee is offering a free Turning Point Transit Guide for Late-in-Life Lesbians so you can see what astrological energies may have been at play during your biggest life changes. Grab it at thestellarmuse.com/shift Unbox Your Sexuality® is a coaching and education space for women who are questioning or coming into their not-straight sexualities later in life. If you're ready to trust what you feel, reduce self-doubt, and live as the most authentic version of yourself, you're in the right place.

Unbox Yourself with Samantha Fox® What happens when a tsunami wave of WLW awakening crashes into a life you've carefully built and then recedes, leaving everything rearranged? In this episode, Sam shares two stories that will feel deeply familiar if you're in the middle of your own queer awakening. The first is a clarity call with a woman who felt electrified by another woman for the first time, committed to staying in her marriage, and is now trying to reassemble the pieces of herself in the wake of something she can't unfeel. The second is Sam's own story of meeting her catalyst and how six weeks after swearing she would never get divorced, her entire world shifted. What Sam wants you to hear: the certainty you're searching for is not the destination. It's a moving target. And that's not a failure! That's life. In this episode: Why your truth today doesn't have to be your truth in a year and why that's actually good newsThe real reason we're so desperate for a label (lesbian? bisexual?) and what happens when we stop grasping for oneHow Sam went from "I will never be single" to genuinely loving her own company and what that means for youWhy there is no "right time" to do this work and what keeping yourself from it is actually costing youThe only constant you can actually rely on when everything else feels uncertainWhether you're in the thick of an awakening, newly single, newly questioning, or still trying to figure out what label fits, this episode is for you. Unbox Your Sexuality® coaching and programs help women who are questioning or coming into their not-straight sexualities later in life learn to trust what they feel, release shame and guilt, and live into the most authentic version of themselves.

What does it mean to live in the in-between? Not just as a society navigating uncertain times, but as a person who has never quite fit the boxes that were handed to you? In this episode, Sam sits down with Jesse (they/them), a nonbinary musician, voice coach, and creator of the Sing Easy, an accessible group singing experience based in New York City. Jesse has spent a lifetime existing between categories- too queer for conservative Australia, not butch enough for the lesbian bar, too authentic for a music industry that required them to perform straightness just to get a foot in the door. What emerged from all of that was something far more interesting than any box could have held. This conversation is warm, raw, and surprisingly funny. It covers a lot of ground. What we talk about: What the Sing Easy is and why Jesse created it as a space where everyone gets to belongGrowing up queer in Australia and losing music opportunities after being outed as a lesbianBeing denied entry to a lesbian bar for not looking gay enough, and what that taught Jesse about the limits of communityDiscovering a nonbinary identity and what it actually feels like to live in the in-between every single dayHow music became Jesse's North Star for belonging, and how that has shiftedThe difference between knowing something and actually embodying itUsing creative practice, including IFS, voice work, and art, to process massive life transitionsThe conversation Jesse had with their own body before top surgery, built out of clayWhy practicing uncertainty might be the most radical thing any of us can do right nowSam also shares her own recent experience with past life and life-between-life regression, and the message she received from her spirit guides about letting go of the story to live in the truth. It's one of those moments in a conversation where everything clicks. About Jesse Hey, I'm Jess McAvoy A voice teacher, artist and musician, living in Brooklyn, originally from Australia. I am non binary and use they/them pronouns.  I have three decades of experience as a performing artist and have centered my practice around authentic self-expression and revealing the path of least resistance to a more embodied life.  What happens when you start really using your voice to express the truth of who you are? I built my independent music career in 1990's Australia and has spent the last two decades coaching voice in Australia and in New York since 2014, eventually creating The Sing Easy™ - an embodied voice practice focused on ease and play, and geared towards welcoming even the most reticent singers.  I think of the voice as a compass and a map and have watched it demonstrate repeatedly that everyone sounds better when they take up space as their true self.  Connect with Jesse Instagram  @thesingeasyexperience Website... jessmcavoy.com  Connect with Sam Learn more about Unbox Your SexualityWork with Sam 1:1Join the Beyond Straight CommunityInstagram

If you've ever told yourself your picker is broken, that you're attracted to the wrong people, or that your crushes always lead somewhere bad- this episode is for you. Sam unboxes why our attractions are never random or wrong, how early unmet needs quietly shape who we're drawn to, and why a crush not working out is information, not evidence of failure. Plus. why it actually takes two years to really know someone, and how to move forward with curiosity instead of self-blame.

Nobody has ever told a straight woman she needs to sleep with a man before she can call herself straight. Not once. So why are queer women held to a completely different standard? This episode is for women who know what they feel on the inside but are waiting for an experience on the outside to make it "real." Sam calls out the gatekeeping — inside the community and inside yourself — and makes the case that your identity belongs to you, full stop. No hall pass required. No experience necessary. Just what's true for you.

For women who have convinced themselves that staying is the kind thing to do. In this episode, Sam sits down with Tina, a married mother of two who spent fifteen years in a good marriage with a great husband — and still couldn't stop fantasizing about women. After a decade in therapy being redirected toward fixing her marriage instead of exploring her sexuality, Tina finally stopped trying to make herself straight. What followed was one of the most honest conversations she'd ever had with her husband, and the beginning of what she calls "clearing the decks for my big gay life." Together, Sam and Tina unpack the question that stops so many women cold: is staying really about him — or is it about being too afraid to face what leaving would mean about you? If you've been telling yourself you're staying for him — this episode will make you look at that a lot more honestly.

In this episode of Unbox Yourself with Samantha Fox®, Samantha and returning guest Christine Vargo, LCSW, get real about what it means to expand, and how to recognize when a relationship, a job, or an old story is quietly shrinking you. This one's for you if you've ever stayed too long, lost yourself trying to keep the peace, or wondered why growth feels so much harder when you're with someone else. They cover: The body signals most of us learn to ignore (and what they're actually trying to tell you)How early survival conditioning quietly becomes self-abandonment in adult relationshipsWhy staying "too long" isn't weakness, it's a nervous system responseThe extra layer queer women carry: disconnecting from identity, not just emotionWhat it actually looks like to be in a relationship that gives you room to growRaw, honest, and worth your time.

What does it actually take to be ready for a healthy lesbian relationship? Not just "over" your ex, but truly grounded in yourself? In this episode, Sam sits down with returning guest Michelle and her partner Dr. Liz Burke to get real about the solo journeys that brought them together. From therapy and shamanic healing to Buddhist practice, pottery classes, solo concerts, and TikTok crushes, Michelle and Liz share what those years of intentional self-work actually looked like, and how they knew they were finally ready. They talk about: Why jumping into dating too soon can keep you stuckWhat "dating yourself" actually means in practiceThe moment each of them knew they were ready to let someone inHow they built a relationship grounded in sovereignty, not codependencyTheir new offering, Relationship Ready Lesbians, for women who are done with the apps and ready to do the real workThis one is for anyone in that in-between place: healed enough to know better, but still figuring out how to get from here to a love that actually feels safe. Learn more about Relationship Ready Lesbians here... https://relationshipreadylesbians.carrd.co/ Are you questioning or coming out later in life and ready to go deeper? Connect with me here... Free 15 minute call with me -  https://callwithsamantha.as.me/ Free Mini Workshop-Am I bi or Am I  Gay?  https://unboxyoursexuality.com/am-i-gay-or-bisexual Beyond Straight Community -  https://unboxyoursexuality.com/bi-life  Unbox Your Sexuality® : A Sexuality Liberation Program -  https://unboxyoursexuality.com/cohort-1

For women who have spent years over-giving in relationships and are starting to question what they actually want for themselves. In this episode, Samantha Fox and therapist Christine Vargo unpack the word "deserving" and why it might not be the empowering word we think it is. They explore how worthiness gets tangled up in patriarchal conditioning, how attachment styles shape what we believe we're allowed to want, and what it actually means to stop being useful and start showing up for yourself.

This podcast is for women who are waking up to same-sex attraction later in life and wondering if what they're feeling is real—or just a symptom of something else they need to fix. If you've been told (or told yourself) that your feelings are happening because you're bored, going through menopause, or struggling in your marriage, this show will help you stop gaslighting yourself and start getting curious. Samantha Fox, therapist, sexuality doula and coach, offers straight talk, deep validation, and a framework for unlearning the conditioning that's kept you from knowing yourself. Whether you're questioning, coming out, or figuring out what the hell comes next, this is your permission slip to trust what you feel.

This episode is for women who are navigating WLW attraction, relationships, and the confusing space between obsession and love—especially if you're a late bloomer lesbian or came out later in life. In this conversation with therapist Christine Vargo, LCSW, we talk about: What limerence is and how it's different from loveWhy lesbians U-haul and move so fast in relationshipsThe role of childhood trauma, neurodivergence, and attachment in limerenceRed flags when you think you're in love after a week (or a month)Why no contact is essential after a breakupHow to stay with yourself in relationship and slow downThe "bump contract" and what your relationships are here to teach youStart here for free: ⁠HERE⁠ Join Beyond Straight: ⁠HERE⁠ Explore Unbox Your Sexuality®: ⁠HERE⁠ Listen to Unbox Yourself with Samantha Fox: Podcast: ⁠HERE⁠ Instagram: ⁠HERE⁠ Website: ⁠HERE⁠ Connect with Christine Vargo, LCSW: ⁠HERE⁠ Christine is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Gestalt Therapist, trained Daring Way™ Facilitator, and founder of The Real Poetic Paradox, LLC — a coaching business dedicated to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in navigating relational dynamics, self-abandonment, and limerence. With over 13 years in private practice and an integrative approach rooted in trauma-informed care, Internal Family Systems, Somatic therapy, and Human Design, Christine brings both clinical expertise and deep compassion to her 1:1 work, clinical supervision, and groups. In addition to her one on one work with clients, Christine is currently offering monthly group sessions for queer women navigating the experience of limerence, self-abandonment or trying to understand attachment dynamics in relationships.  She’ll be launching her first online course: The Art of Staying: The Self-Trust Method for Love That Doesn’t Cost You Yourself in the Fall/Winter 2026.